The double doctorate programme, the House of Legal Psychology, was a collaboration between Maastricht University and the University of Portsmouth (UK). Most of the time she worked in Maastricht but for six months she worked and did her research in Portsmouth. She also has to defend her thesis twice “So this is not going to be my first defence”. Last year she was awarded her PhD at the University of Portsmouth, and next Tuesday she’ll be defending her work in Maastricht.

For her PhD she expanded the research question from PTSD to include more methods for the detection of fabricated physical (headaches, pain) and psychological (for example: test anxiety, trauma-like experiences) symptoms. For three years she performed eight studies in which different indications of fabricated symptoms were examined, such as: the quality of symptom statements, response pattern on reaction time tasks, and on the self-report questionnaires. Each method was closely assessed and the findings support a multi-method approach to the detection of fabricated symptom.

“I’m looking forward to this defence because it comes with more celebration, family and friends. I was less nervous then with the first one, until my mock-defence. There I learned how cruel my colleagues can be when you ask them to be critical (laughing). But I enjoy being challenged and being asked about my research. It can give you new insights and new ideas for future research. And my colleagues are far more brilliant people than I am.”

Besides being a researcher, Irena has already started also as a teacher here at FPN. “I really look forward to my classes, during my PhD I didn’t have a lot of time for teaching. Talking to students about the field is very exciting because their questions are often the most difficult to answer. I also really hope to see them at my defence!”